Kazakhstan

Visa requirements for Kazakhstan depend on which passport you hold. Check the Traveller visa tool to see whether your passport needs a visa and, if so, how long you can stay.

May–June and September–October are the transition seasons — ideal for Almaty (the cultural capital), Charyn Canyon (Kazakhstan's answer to the Grand Canyon), Kolsai Lakes, and the Altai Mountains. July–August is hot; November–March is extreme cold on the steppe (−30°C not uncommon). Nur-Sultan (Astana) has an extraordinary futuristic skyline designed by Norman Foster and other world architects.

• Smart casual in Almaty and Nur-Sultan — Kazakhstan's cities are surprisingly cosmopolitan
• Modest dress in rural areas and at mosques

• Kazakh hospitality is legendary — a guest is treated as a gift from God; refusing hospitality is deeply insulting
• Beshbarmak (boiled meat with noodles) is the national dish — traditionally eaten with the hands; the host serves special parts of the sheep to honoured guests
• Kazakhstan was the main Soviet nuclear testing site — Semipalatinsk Polygon (the Polygon) saw 456 nuclear tests between 1949–1989; the affected region is a sobering historical site
• The Baikonur Cosmodrome (from which Sputnik launched and Yuri Gagarin flew) can be visited with advance permission from the Russian space agency

• LGBTQ+ activity is not explicitly criminalised but is subject to 'hooliganism' laws; public attitudes conservative; exercise caution
• Photography of government buildings, military, and border crossings restricted
• Drug offences carry severe penalties